once just isnt enough

The Mr. had to work on the 2nd night of U2, and I really wanted to go! I scoured the internet all afternoon trying to hook up a deal like we did the day before but it just wasn't happening. I decided since I had no other plans that I would just go park at The Block and walk over to the stadium, because after all hearing U2 live is better than not at all. I got to the stadium about 10 min before the band took the stage. I found a bench and sat down, settled in with my soda. As the 1st song starts to play a dude comes up and sits next to me. 

::Isn't he sitting a little close, there are dozens of other benches!:: 

I start returning a few texts from earlier in the day. 

Then dude starts talking to me - Am I going inside? Why not? You a big fan? 

::What is up with this guy, I have  5 bucks so hope he isn't wasting his time thinking he can scalp me a ticket:: 

He gets on his phone talking to someone, then tells me to wait where I am and he would be right back. 

::Back to what shank me?::

I think I can get you a ticket he tells me. Dude leaves and I enjoy the live music and the stars. It was a lovely June night. Never thinking I would see this guy again he resurfaces and starts walking into the security check to go inside. 

::Liar::

Then he waves at me and says wait there, I'm going in, but wait there. 

::Weirdo!::

3rd song starts to play. Suddenly security guy comes over and asks me repeatedly if I am alright and why don't I come with him. Looks around, then palms me a TICKET! Says put it away and walks me over to security. He tells me to have a nice evening and enjoy the concert. I walk up to the gate, hand my ticket to the lady to scan. She asks "do you have a wrist band?" 

::Crap::

Well, go over to the next gate and they will get me one, have a nice night she says. It is then that I look at my FREE TICKET, I am in GA. Wow! Thanks random guy who some how hooked me up with a ticket to see a band I love. You rock, whoever you are. 

The concert was wonderful! I did realize that there is a reason we always get seats though, I'm short. With everyone walking around so much, I worked my way almost to the stage. Twas AWESOME. 

1. 
   

   Comments from U2 tours "Bono dedicates I Still Haven't Found to Quincy Jones, who's at the show. Other celebrities in attendance include Rick Rubin, Tom Morello, and Cindy Crawford. Before Moment of Surrender, Bono pays tribute to E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died earlier today: 'Think about one man's saxophone. Think about Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Think of Clarence Clemons. This man just carried music, and music carried him until this day.' He then sings/recites some of Jungleland at the end of the concert."

   Set List

   Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World,One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name - All You Need Is Love, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots - She Loves You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stuck In a Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights,Vertigo - It's Only Rock and Roll, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - Never Walk

   Encore(s): Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Jungleland

   
   

Thats Zabtastic!

[the month is now May in the year 2011]

My dear friend Beth has some adorable children, who are made even more adorable by the fact that they are learning Irish Dance! Love. It. Through some twist of fate she ended up with 2 extra tickets for their year end performance and my mom and I just happened to be free. The kids did fantastic! Another friend is one of the owners of this dance studio Aurora Ritchie of the
 Rose-Ritchie Academy of Irish Dancing.
You can click on the link to see their awesome website.

We loved all of the performances and some of the older kids were amazing!

I only managed to get a couple photos, here they are.

Weenie Roast 2008!

Once again this year, I got to go to the KROQ Weenie Roast y Fiesta. The tickets went on sale on Wednesday, with the show being on Saturday. I decided if I was able to get actual seats I'd do something with the tickets. If I could only get general admission on the lawn then I wouldn't buy the tickets. Well, I ended up getting some Loge seats about halfway to the stage. Through a lot of hassle and some wheeling and dealing, I managed to sell those tickets and end up with a 12th row seat plus enough money to pay for that ticket, the 2 original tickets I bought, food, and some extra money to add to our bank account. Score! So anywho, here's a recap of the bands. I linked to performaces from the show for most of the bands. A couple of them weren't posted so I used other live performances.

*update*: CBS (which owns KROQ) has apparently been busy removing all the live performances from youtube the past few days. Good job taking down free publicity for your bands and events. Let me know how that works out for you. I'll still post links to videos in case there's someone you haven't heard.

1. Ludo
The side stage opened up with Ludo. They were fun to watch. A little goofy. They shouldn't quit their day jobs, because I don't see them doing much beyond one or two minor hits, but I enjoyed my time watching them. The ended with a spot on cover of Faith No More's "Epic" which was great. The singer matched the voice perfectly.

2. The Flobots
While everyone was watching Ludo, I moved to the stage next to them to be up close for the Flobots. I'd heard a few songs besides "Handlebars" and love their style. I don't agree with all of their politics, but they mix rock, rap, reggae, funk together well. Plus, how many bands have a lead viola? Hopefully people will accept them for more than just "Handlebars".

3. MGMT
Kevin and Bean always bring up how awful Frente was at Weenie Roast 2 back in the day. I was there for that performance. MGMT couldn't even open for Frente based on what I saw. I'm not sure which was the highlight of this half hour: The singer trying to walk across the stage high-fiving people and falling over from being drunk/high or the woman who passed out from the heat in front of her 10 year old and lost control of her bowels as security tried to carry her to the EMT tent. Bad times.

4. The Bravery
During that time I stayed where I was for the Flobots so I had a front row spot for The Bravery. They changed my mind about them when they played on the main stage last year, so it was nice to get to see them again, up close this time. Another solid performance.

5. Atreyu
There was a half hour break before Atreyu went on. This is when I got some lunch. Sadly, I just couldn't seem to make it back for Ateyu's set. Instead, I sat in the shade and got to meet the head Flobot and the singer for Seether who were both hanging out unnoticed in a shady part of the festival area.

6. Flogging Molly
I'd been wanting to see Flogging Molly for a few years. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't 100+ degrees at that point. They really got things going with a high energy set.

7. Seether
Not much to say here. They were better than I expected, but nothing to get excited over.

8. Scars on Broadway
This was my second break. The sun was way too hot. I would have stayed if they were playing as their regular band System of a Down instead of this weaker side project.

9. Pennywise
Pennywise is a band I've listened to off and on since high school, but have never seen live. They seemed really excited to be there and took requests from the crowd. They even mixed in a cover of the Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop". Good fun.

10. Bad Religion
Bad Religion played last year, and was better that time. They ran through their catalog of hits, but didn't seem to have the energy or urgency they brought to the songs last time around. It was a good time for a sing-a-long, but those in the pits seem disappointed.

11. Rise Against
Rise Against was the third returning band, but unlike Bad Religion, they seemed more comfortable this time around. The highlight of their set was probably the acoustic version of "Swing Life Away".

12. The Raconteurs
When Jack White is taking charge, the Raconteurs are good. When he steps back and lets the rest of the band take over, they're average. We got both sides of it in this set. They have the potential to be bigger and better than the White Stripes were/are.

13. The Offspring
No, Jeri, the Offspring didn't repeat the horror from when they played before the Cure. However, while they were playing, several large fires broke out on the lawn with flames shooting up about 10 feet at one point. They have so many hits at this point, there were several I really missed. They did play a few new songs which fit nicely.

14. Metallica
Most of the crowd seemed to be there solely because of Metallica. They got their money's worth. They played the hour and 20 minutes they were scheduled for, then came out for a one song encore. When that didn't satisfy the crowd, they came back again for seven more songs. I was exhausted by the end of it. They didn't play any of their new songs, but also wisely stayed away from the St. Anger CD. I don't know how they rock so hard for so long night after night. I'm glad I finally got to see them, and may have to go back when they tour in the fall.

Hello, hello....hola!

Today was U2 day. We got up and headed down to Irvine Spectrum for a noon showing of U2-3D on the Imax screen. The movie was shot during the South American portion of the Vertigo tour. On the radio on our way there, on the way back, and even walking around the Spectrum, we were treated to other U2 songs not shown in the movie too.

I was very impressed with how far the 3D technology has come. It was crystal clear and they had used every 3D camera available to make this movie so you got great shots from every angle. It was even better than being in the circle area up by the stage. This put you on and above the stage. Sadly, the movie was only an hour and a half, so they had to cut out a lot of the songs I would have liked to have seen from the show. At least they made the most of the songs they did use, such as using the 3D to give a Zoo-TV tour feel to "The Fly". It was also cool to see all the stuff Bono was doing on stage during the "Love and Peace"/"Sunday Bloody Sunday"/"Bullet the Blue Sky" war combo.

U2-3D is going to be expanding to wide release in a couple of weeks, but I think you really need the giant screen to do it justice. Just be careful if you go to the Spectrum. There was a huge crowd there lining up to see Hannah Montana 3D, and you know how vicious preteens can be if you get between them and Hannah.

Weenie Roast recap...

On Saturday, Cyndi and I slept in a bit, then got some lunch before heading out to Irvine for the Weenie Roast. On the way there they announced on the radio that the Killers had canceled due to the singer's illness. Since that's who we were looking forward to seeing the most, it was not a good start. It continued to go downhill when it took almost an hour to go the last mile on the freeway only to find that parking had filled up long before we got there and they were sending people out. It was very frustrating. We finally found a field where a bunch of other people were parking so we left the car there and hoped it would still be there when we got back.

When we got up to the gate, security not only opened our sealed bottles of water to "make sure it really is water" but they then threw the caps away and said they weren't allowed in. So much for saving it for later when we really wanted it.

Once we dealt with the nonsense of getting in the place it was a lot of fun. Here's a rundown of the bands...

• Tim Armstrong -- We walked in as he was finishing his set on the side stage. He played a couple of songs from when he was with Rancid..."Ruby Soho" and "Timebomb". I've seen him before so I was ok with just hearing a couple of songs.

• Tiger Army -- I really enjoyed their psychobilly set. I was surprised how many people in the crowd knew their songs besides "Forever Fades Away". Hopefully they'll stick around for a while.

• The Bravery -- I've never paid much attention to them, but again I really liked their set. I would have liked them to have a little longer set.

• Rise Against -- Bathroom break. We got back just in time to hear them close with "Prayer of the Refugee" which I like. That really got the crowd going just in time for...

• 30 Seconds to Mars -- ...to kill it. I was looking forward to this set, but it turned out to be the worst of the day. Jared Leto should stick to acting and not doing concerts. Lots of delays from the band, and Leto assumed that if he ran through the crowd holding out his mic that everyone would sing his hits for him. I guess the instrumentals were ok. The 5 minutes of dancing with mariachis to start the set didn't help either.

• Bad Religion -- Luckily Bad Religion knows what they're doing and got the show back on track. It was a very tight set and their new songs were as impressive as all the old hits. They made me want to see a full show from them someday.

• Queens of the Stone Age -- Dinner time. I didn't care about them before, and I still don't. I hear they were good. Probably not as good as my teriyaki bowl.

• Interpol -- They don't move around on stage at all, but they sounded good. Unfortunately their guitar broke so they had to cut the set short. Because at a festival with 15 bands, there is only one guitar there.

• Incubus -- Since Brandon Flowers of the Killers was sick, Brandon Boyd of Incubus filled in. It wasn't the full band...just vocals and one guitar. I wasn't too happy when they came out because I'm not a fan. However, the stripped down version was actually listenable and they sort of won me over. From this point on, the crowd was on their feet the whole time.

• Social Distortion -- I first became a fan when I saw them at a Weenie Roast 10 years ago. They put on another great show as always from "Mommy's Little Monster" through "Story of My Life". Maybe this year I'll finally manage to get to one of their House of Blues shows.
  

• Korn -- I never knew how much of a Korn fan Cyndi was until tonight. She was going wild, knocking people around in the pit. She was also quite impressed with the girl we saw who had a 6 inch tall Korn logo tattooed across her back. I'd be shocked if Cyndi doesn't get one to match any day now. She'll deny it of course, but I know the truth. We knew it was going to be loud when they came on with 3 drum kits. I loved seeing "Blind" performed live.

• Linkin Park -- They really surprised me. Maybe they were just trying to keep up with all the other rock-out bands, but Linkin Park seems a lot harder in concert than on their cds. A good mix of the old and new, redone versions of older songs, and all on a pink Hello Kitty guitar. I don't think I'll be seeing them by themselves any time soon, but the hour plus set here was a lot of fun.